Retail Execs Share Views on Compensation Transparency
Our coverage of Total Retail’s first annual Salary Benchmark Report this week examines retail executives’ — CEOs/presidents/founders; chief marketing officers; C-level execs other than CEOs and CMOs; and vice presidents — opinions on how transparent their companies are when it comes to employee compensation. This data can be looked at in two different ways: one, how transparent their own individual compensation is to the rest of the company and, two, how transparent is the compensation for those that work for them.
The Salary Benchmark Report was produced based upon the responses to an online survey that was sent to Total Retail’s audience over a two-week period last summer. Survey questions asked respondents about their salaries, benefits (financial and nonfinancial), opinions on their career paths and compensation fairness, as well as demographic information. The survey resulted in 660 responses; the C-suite respondents analyzed in this article accounted for 182 responses.
The chart below shows these 182 respondents’ answers to the following statement: Choose the statement that most closely matches your beliefs about your company's compensation transparency. (Click on the chart to get an expanded view.)
Here are some of the key findings to emerge from this chart:
- The vast majority of retail executives don't believe their companies are transparent about employee compensation. In fact, none of the chief marketing officers and vice presidents that took the survey said that their companies were "extremely transparent" when it comes to compensation.
- Of the C-suite respondents, vice presidents find their companies to be the least transparent when it comes to compensation, with 73 percent saying their company is either "not so transparent" or "not at all transparent."
- Conversely, C-level execs other than CEOs and CMOs find their companies to be the least transparent when it comes to compensation, with 24 percent saying their company is either "very transparent" or "extremely transparent."
- More respondents chose "not so transparent" than any other answer option, speaking to a potential issue for retail organizations as they try to position themselves to obtain and retain executive talent.
For more of these valuable insights into retail executives’ salaries and mind-sets, download Total Retail’s Salary Benchmark Report today! This comprehensive research report can help you maximize your earning potential, as well as enable employers to benchmark their compensation packages against the rest of the marketplace — a critical component to acquiring and retaining valuable executive talent.
